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low rider noun earlier than 1968

low rider noun earlier than 1968

A low rider is a car that has been modified to allow its chassis to be lowered closer to the ground; the term also refers to a person who drives such a car, or who participates in the subculture associated with these cars. The practice of making these modifications is said to have begun in the 1950s among Mexican-Americans in Southern California, but the earliest evidence we have is from the late 1960s:

1968 Eldridge CleaverSoul on IceI. iii. p. 26 Low Rider, a Los Angeles nickname for ghetto youth. Originally the term was coined to describe the youth who had lowered the bodies of their cars so that they rode low, close to the ground.